In the mass production of furniture, cabinets, door panels and the like, particularly, office furniture and associated products, the amount of labor required to manufacture and assemble the furniture constitutes a major expense. Consequently, furniture manufacturers are constantly striving to improve assembly techniques in order to reduce the time required for repetitive tasks.
One such repetitive task which is required in the production of most furniture is the installation of handles, pull knobs, locks and the like. In the production of most prior art furniture products, holes are formed in the material from which the furniture is being manufactured. Once a particular area has been fully assembled, such as a drawer or door panel, a handle is fastened to the preformed holes in the associated panel.
In order to achieve this simple task, the desired handle must be placed in overlying relationship with the preformed holes, followed by selection of fastening means, such as screws, which are inserted into the holes from the opposed side of the panel, and into the threaded receiving zones of the handle. Then, the fastening means must be threadedly mounted into the receiving zone formed in both sides of the handle, in order to securely affix the handle to the desired panel. These fastening steps must then be repeated for every other drawer, wall, panel, etc. on which a handle is to be mounted.
In a similar manner, simple pull members are also employed for enabling panel members, such as cabinet doors, to be easily opened and closed. In these instances, the pull knob incorporates a threaded recess zone and is secured to the desired door or panel in substantially the same way, with the knob being aligned with the preformed hole in the door or panel followed by the threaded advancement of screw means into the receiving zone of the pull knob for securely affixing the pull knob to the desired surface.
As is evident from the foregoing, time-consuming, laborious, repetitive action is required for securely mounting handles, knobs, and the like to the desired surface of such products as desks, filing cabinets, wall units, display cabinets, and the like. Furthermore, many of these products for office use are manufactured from sheet metal, while other products are manufactured from a wide variety of materials such as sheet metal, wood, fiberboard, plastic and the like. However, regardless of the materials employed, the fastening systems employed are substantially the same, requiring a substantial labor effort.
Although substantial effort has been expended by manufacturers to reduce the production time required for manufacturing products such as desks, cabinets, file cabinets, display hutches and the like, the ability to reduce the installation time and effort for universally employed fastening systems which securely mount hardware products to a supporting surface has eluded the industry.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a fastening system which enables for the rapid securement of hardware products such as handles, knobs, locks and the like to a support surface with minimal effort and time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fastening system having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being installed by laborers with virtually no training or production skill.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fastening system having the characteristic features described above which is employable in the production of office furniture products to substantially reduce the time involved in installing hardware such as handles, knobs and the like, thereby substantially reducing the manufacturing costs for such products.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.